Roy Bridges (historian)

Roy Bridges is a noted historian of exploration and travel with a focus on Africa, its imperial and missionary history. He is an Emeritus Professor of History at the University of Aberdeen. He began his university career at Makerere University but spent most of his career at the University of Aberdeen where with John D. Hargreaves he helped with the development there of African studies. Between 2002 to 2008 he was the President of the Hakluyt Society. He is the author of many books and research papers including studies of the missionary Johann Krapf, the explorer John Speke and has written what has been described as "the definitive account" of the life of Jacob Wainwright, who recorded an account of the return of David Livingstone's body to Britain.

Selected Publications

• Bridges, Roy and Hair, Paul Edward Hedley (1996) Compassing the Vaste Globe of the Earth: Studies in the History of the Hakluyt Society, 1846-1996 (Hakluyt Society Second No. 183. )
• Bridges, Roy (1999) Imperialism, Decolonization and Africa: Studies Presented to John Hargreaves (Cambridge Imperial and Post-Colonial Studies Series) Basingstoke : Macmillan
• Bridges, Roy (1997) John D. Hargreaves : an academic memoir and bibliography, Dept. of History
• Bridges, Roy ed (2007) Jacob Wainwright's Diary of the Transportation of Dr Livingstone's Body to the Coast, May 1873 to February 1874. in Four Travel Journals / The Americas, Antarctica and Africa / 1775-1874. Edited by Herbert K. Beals, R. J. Campbell, Ann Savours, Anita McConnell & Roy Bridges. 2007, pp. x + 404, 50 plates, 8 maps. The annotated texts of four previously unpublished travel journals, treated separately with biographical and historical introductions, bibliographies and indexes.Ashgate Pub. Limited